Why this six-figure salary is considered ‘dangerous’
To most, this would be considered a dream salary range, however, Aussies have been issued a warning about this “dangerous” income bracket.
An Aussie business coach has revealed the most “dangerous” salary range you can be in, issuing a warning to workers who find themselves in this tax bracket.
Emily Swaffield has built a substantial online following where she talks about achieving financial freedom and her work in the digital marketing space.
In a recent TikTok video, the 36-year-old warned people start to experience lifestyle creep and get “trapped” once they hit the $150,000 to $250,000 salary range.
This amount of money right here, this is dangerous. This is when you hit the ceiling in corporate before your job slowly starts to consume your life,” she said.
Ms Swaffield previously worked in investment banking and told news.com.au that, in her experience, this was the income bracket where you “finally feel like you’re getting ahead in life”.
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As a result, people start to upgrade their lifestyles, such as getting a bigger house, a better car, splurging on holidays and spending more on luxury items.
This is all well and good, but the Sydney woman said with this comes the pressure to maintain this type of lifestyle, as you are upgrading your financial obligations.
“You’ve worked so hard to reach this point, but now your income isn’t just a number that looks good on paper, it’s the thing holding everything else together,” she said.
“And before you know it you’ve started to build a life that’s dependant on the next promotion, the next bonus … and that’s when it can start to feel like a trap.”
Ms Swaffield said this can be particularly confronting if you start to question whether your current job or career is something you want to do for the rest of your working life.
She said people soon find themselves in a vicious cycle of working more, earning more and spending more, which is where the term “golden handcuffs” comes from.
The golden handcuffs refers to jobs that allow workers to earn very high salaries that essentially chain them to that job if they want to keep up certain lifestyle changes.
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Ms Swaffield worked for years to get to a place when she was earning a comfortable six figure salary in investment banking.
But in 2018 she made the decision to leave her role and pursue her online business after realising the cost that comes with those high salaries in corporate roles.
She now runs a mentorship program called Digital Sales School where she helps people learn how to monetise their skills, passions or expertise and build an online brand.
When the 36-year-old was in the grips of the “golden handcuffs”, it quickly led to burnout and the realisation that she had chosen the wrong career.
“I went into finance because I knew that would be able to provide good earning potential and help fund the lifestyle I wanted,” she said.
“But I found myself chasing the next promotion and raise, taking on more responsibility, and ignoring how I was actually feeling.
“I had anxiety. I dreaded Mondays. I remember thinking, ‘Is this what it’s going to be like for the next 30 years?’”
Ms Swaffield doesn’t blame her workplace for this, saying she placed this pressure upon herself because from the outside everything looked “successful” and she figured she should be happy with her achievements.
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Over time, she found herself craving more freedom - not just a holiday or a break - but a completely different way of working and living than what, up until that point, she was used to.
“I realised that success on paper didn’t mean much if it came at the cost of my mental health or happiness,” the business coach said, adding that the hardest part was admitting to herself that she wasn’t happy.
“That is what makes the golden handcuffs so dangerous: the longer you stay, the more you build a life that depends on a job you may no longer want. And with things like rent, mortgages, school fees etc it’s easy to feel completely stuck,” she said.
Ms Swaffield said getting out of the cycle of earning more, only to spend more will look different for everyone, but the first step is to always be honest with yourself about whether you are happy with the life you have created.
From there, breaking the cycle might mean finding ways to improve their current work set up, such as putting in firmer boundaries or negotiating more flexibility.
For others, like in Ms Swaffield’s case, it could mean starting a side hustle or a business that will give you more financial options over time.
The good news is, Ms Swaffield says there are more opportunities than ever to break free from the golden handcuffs, “or at least loosen them a little”.
“Just don’t buy into the quick-fix dream it’ll happen overnight, like a lot of people in the online world will try to sell you,” she said.
“It takes time but using your 5–9 to build a different 9–5 is how it all starts.”
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Originally published as Why this six-figure salary is considered ‘dangerous’
